Interpreting charts and graphs

Graphics such as graphs and charts provide a

useful way of showing what your information
means in a visual way.
 Pie chart
Pie chart displays data in a circle. Each
part of the circle represents the amount
of data in one category. It shows each
category as a percentage. Unlike a line
graph, a pie chart cannot be used to
show changes that occur to data over a
time period.
From this pie chart, we can see that:

• Walking is the most popular way of travelling to college.

• Sixteen students cycle to college each day.
• More students walk.
• The same number of students use a car and the train to
travel.
• Nineteen per cent of student questioned use public transport.
 Bar chart
A bar is a diagram drawn with
rectangular bars. Each bar represents a
different category in the data set. The
frequency of the category is represented
by the height or the length. More than
one set of data can be shown on a bar
chart for comparison. The bars can be
drawn vertically and horizontally.
From the bar chart, we can see that:

• There were more visitors to the museum in June than in April.

• The least number of visitors went to the museum in May.
• The museum had no more than 600 visitors during any month
in this period.
• Compared to July, just over half the number of visitors went to
the museum in April.
• The most popular month to visit the museum was July.
• Over 1500 visitors went to the museum in these four months.
 Line graph
A line graph usually has a time scale shown along
the horizontal axis. This type of graph can be used
to show how a set of data values changes over
time. Two sets of data can easily be compared by
plotting both lines on the same graph. Both axes
should be clearly labeled with a title and units.
•The average daily temperature did not fall below 5 C
during the whole year.
• Between January to August, the average daily
temperature increased each month.
• A considerable fall in temperature occurred between
August and September.
• The highest average daily temperature was in
August.
Verbs for upward trends Verbs for downward trends Unchanged trend

Increase Fall Level off

Rise Drop Stabilize

Go up Decline Remain the same

Peak Decrease Remain unchanged

Improve Dwindle

Gain

Recover
 Adverbs to describe the change

Stress levels varied only slightly between

members of the control group. However, these
levels fell dramatically in the unhealthy group
after a period of exercise.
 Adjectives to describe the change

A slight variation of the stress levels between

members of the control group can be seen.
However, a considerable drop is visible ......
Outline of the interpretation

• Introduction
• Overview
• Body
• Conclusion
The chart below shows how much
money was spent in the budget on
different sectors by the UAE
government in 2000.
Model Answer
The pie chart illustrates the national expenditure of the United
Arab Emirates in 2000. Generally speaking, the UAE government
spent over 300 billion United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) on
different sectors in this year and the highest proportion of this
expenditure was on ensuring the social security of citizens.

To maintain the social soundness, the UAE government spent 100

billion AED, the highest, whilst, the transportation system received
only 9 billion, the lowest budget allocation in this year. Besides,
healthcare and personal social services demanded over 50 billion
AED which was even higher than the cumulative budget allocation
for the education and defence sectors in the UAE in 2000.

The industrial, agricultural and employment sector received 13

billion AED which was 4 billion fewer than the national budget for
the law and order sector. Moreover, the government contributed 23
billion in debt interest and 15 billion for the housing, heritage and
environment sectors. All other expenditure summed up at 23
billion and it is obvious that the government paid overhead to
ensure social security compared to other aspects of the country.
The graph below shows a survey result of 4000
participants who expressed what important aspects
they have learned from the internship they have
completed.
Sample Answer:
The pie chart gives data on the most important aspects that candidates
have learned from their internship, according to a survey which considered
4000 candidates’ opinion. Generally speaking, practical knowledge, skill
development, understanding industry, work environment and planning for
the future career are the most important perspectives those candidates
have learned.

Getting back to details, 15% candidates expressed their opinion that the
most significant lesson they have learned from their internship experience
was practical knowledge while 7% thought real work experience was the
most necessary lesson for them. The second highest ratio of these
candidates opined that they have developed their communication skills
and this was the best knowledge they have gained from the internship.
One out of ten thought that understanding industry was the most
beneficial aspect they learned. Moreover, time management, work
operation and planning for future career, each was picked by 7%
internship students as their most valuable knowledge from their internship
activity. Only a small ratio of candidates picked teamwork and work
environment, 3% and 4% respectively, to be their greatest lesson. Just
over one fourth of those four thousand survey participants expressed
other aspects that they learned to be most important.
The bar charts below show the number of hours each
teacher spent teaching in different schools in four
different countries in 2001.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting
the main features, and make comparisons where
relevant.
Sample Answer :
The bar graph outlines the average duration a teacher spent on three
different levels in four different countries in 2001. The horizontal axis
represents the countries while the vertical axis represents the number
of hours. Overall, the teaching hours at the secondary level was higher
than that of primary level and the US tutors spent more time teaching
than the teachers in the other three countries did.

A US teacher spent more than 700 hours to teach primary students in

2001 while a Japanese educator disbursed exactly 600 hours for
teaching the same graders. Time allocated to teaching elementary
student by a Spanish teacher was 50 hours higher than that of
Japanese teacher, however, it was less than 600 hours in Iceland. An
American teacher’s average schooling duration in 2001 for lower
secondary students was 1000 hours which was 300 to 400 hours
higher than the teaching duration by a teacher in the other three
countries. Finally, higher secondary students received almost 1200
hours’ lectures by a teacher in the US and this duration was noticeably
higher than of other countries. In Japan, an upper secondary level
teacher taught for 700 hours in 2001, almost 500 hours less than that
of a US teacher. In Iceland and Spain, teaching duration by a higher
secondary level teacher was approximately 900 hours…..
The number of tourists visiting Malaysia and Dubai
from 1995 to 2003 is presented below.
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the
information shown in the diagrams below.
Sample Answer :
The line graph compares the number of visitors in Malaysia
and Dubai between 1995 and 2003. Both these countries
received more tourists in 2003 than they did in 1995 and
Dubai’s share of travelers went higher than that of Malaysia
despite a reverse scenario in early years.

According to the illustration, the number of tourists who

visited Malaysia in 1995 was 0.1 million. The visitors in
Malaysia kept on increasing very swiftly till 2000 when it
attracted more than a quarter tourists. On the contrary,
Dubai, despite a decline in 1996, managed to attract more
vacationers and had almost the same number of people
visiting there in 2000 as it was in Malaysia. Next year, both
of their tourists’ number went up, however, afterwards
Dubai had been more successful in getting more visitors
than Malaysia did. In 2003, four hundred thousand people
travelled to Dubai which was an overwhelming rise than
that of 1995, while Malaysia managed to attract fewer than
250 thousand vacationers, which was roughly 2.5 times
than that of 1995....
 References
Thakkar, P. ( 2013). The ultimate guide to IELTS
writing.
20 recent IELTS graphs samples with answers (ielts-
mentor.com)